Kite.



No. 645,423. Patented Mar. I3, |900.- E. B. F. W. MERRIMAN.

KITE.

(Application led May. 1898A (No Model.)

have invented certain new UNTTRD STA-.Tins

f Tries.,

PATENT EDWARD R. MERRIMAN AND FRANK w. MERRTMAN, or BoSToN,MASSACHUSETTS;

KITE.

srEeIrIcArioN forming part of Letters Patent No. 645,423, dated March13, 1966.

Application filed May 3,1898. Serial No. 679,586. (No model.) A

T0 tZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWARD B pMERRT- MAN and FRANK W. MERRIMAN,citizens of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts,

and useful Improvements in Kites, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to kites,and more particularly to what'are knownas box-kites, a type of kite whereof the distinguishing feature is thepeculiar arrangement of its sails or aeroplanes, which in their contourresemble two open-ended rectangular boxes rigidly secured together inalinement with each other and a short distance apart.

A box-kite is, as compared to other types,

a heavy-wind kite-that is to say, it requires a heavier wind to raiseand sustain it-and for this reason it is especially important that itshould be as light, strong, and rigidfof contour as possible.

Our present invention is intended to improve upon prior box-kites in theparticulars just mentioned, and in its preferred form it also provides akite which may be compactly folded when not in use.

Our invention also relates to an improved device for adjusting thebridle of the kite, as will be hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of a box-kiteembodying a preferred form of our improvements, a portion of one of thesails being broken away. is a top plan view of the kite shown in Fig. l.Fig. 3 is an enlarged section, partly broken away, on the line m in Fig.2. Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the bridle-adjuster hereinafterdescribed.

Each sail A and B of the kite consists, in accordance with the usualconstruction, of a strip of cloth or similar material secured tocorner-stays 2, which are located at such distances apart that lthesails will thereby be given their peculiar box-like contour whenextended. Each of said stays is preferably of sufficient length to servefor both sails,thereby also performing the function of spacing saidsails apart and uniting them to each other to form the complete kite.

Fig. 2

In order to set up the kite, the stays 2 must be held apart and bracedin such manner as to stretch the sails taut and maintain them in thatcondition, and our present invention relates chiefly to the meansemployed for that purpose. Hitherto it has been customary to provideeach pair of stays with one or more braces extending between themadjacent to the corresponding side of the sail, said braces thus forminga rectangle when viewed in plan. According to our invention, however,webrace the stays apart and stretch the sails by means of a suitablenumber of cross-braces 3, each of which extends betweendiagonally-opposite stays in a plane substantially at right anglesthereto, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, so that the pressure exerted byeach brace is directly opposed to the resultant of the tensions exertedon the corresponding corner-stays by the adjacent portions of the sail.From this construction there results, rst, a considerable gain inlightness for the reason that two of our cross-braces are the equivalentof four of the parallel braces such as heretofore used, and, second,there is a great gain in strength and rigidity, because in our structurethe framework of the sails is, in` effect, divided into triangles, whilein the old construction the'framework consisted of one or morerectangles, and it is a well-known mechanical fact that a trianglehaving sides of fixed length cannot be distorted or deformed at itsangles, while the contrary is true of a rectangle or any other planegure having more than three sides. Furthermore, in the old constructionthe braces were subject to lateral pressure from the action of the windon those portions of the sail with which they are in contact, while ourcross-braces are subject to an endwise pressure only, as above stated,and thus may be made of less cross-Section than the old form of bracewithout any corresponding loss in efliciency,there by still furtherlessening the weight of the kite.

We prefer to arrange our cross-braces 3 in pairs, as shown in Fig. l.For the smaller sizes of kite a single pair of braces for each sail willbe sufcient, and they should be l0- cated about midway between the edgesof the IOO sail, as shown. For the larger sizes of kite two or more`pairs of braces for each sail may be used, if desired.

In order that the kite may be conveniently folded when not in use, weprefer to make .the braces 3 detachable at one or both of their endsfrom the stays 2, and this may be done by pivoting one end of each brace3 to one of its corresponding corner-stays and providing means for itstemporary attachment to the diagonally-opposite stay. In theconstruction shown a tubular clip 4.- is secured on one end of eachbrace 3, ears 5 being provided on said clip by means of which it ispivoted, as at 6,' to the corner-stay, which is rectangular incross-section and is positioned diagonally with reference to the sails,so as to present a flat bearing-surface to the crossbrace. To the free`end of each brace 3 a clip or ferrule 7 or its equivalent is secured,it being provided with two ears 8, projecting forward from its sides insuch manner that said ears 8 may be made to embrace the corner-stay andslide along the same until the brace is in its operative position, whichmay be determined by means of a stop 9, secured to the corner-stay. Itwill be obvious that by means of the construction j ust described a veryconsiderable amount of force may be applied to the corner-stays 2 inbracing them apart, thereby giving a corresponding tension to the sails,and thus increasing the rigidity of the kite.

The clips 7 are preferably made of metal, and in order that the ears 3may have sufficient strength without being made unduly heavy they may becorrugated longitudinally, as at 14. If the two cross-braces of eachpair are pivoted together at their point of crossing, as at 10, therigidity of the kite will be somewhat increased, while the folding ofthe kite will not be interfered with thereby.

The bridle of the kitei. e., the two cords '11, which are to be attachedto the kite-lineis secured to the kite-frame at or near the inner edgeof one of the sails, one cord on each side. The points at which thebridle should be secured to the kite-frame in order to secure a properbalance of the kite when in the air vary according tothe strength of thewind, being nearer the end of the frame when the Wind is strong thanwhen it islight. The remaining feature of our invention relates to meansfor adjusting the bridle on the kite-frame and consists of a wire oritsequivalent secured to the frame of the kite at about the proper point ofattachment for the bridle and so constructed that the bridle may beconveniently adjusted along said wire a predetermined distance andretained in place until it is desired to change its-position. Thesimplest form of this feature of our invention which has occurred to usis that shown in detail in Fig. 4t of the drawings, wherein 12 is apiece of stiff wire formed into a series of similar wave-like portionsor corrugations 13, the ends of the wire being so bent that they may bedriven into or otherwise secured to the framework of the kite. lTwo ofthese adj usters 12 are of course provided for each kite and therespective ends of the bridle are knotted thereto somewhat loosely, sothat the knot may be slipped along the wire into any one of thecorrugations 13, which are of such depth that the knots cannot beaccidentally displaced therefrom during the flying of the kite. The twoends of the bridle should be adjusted to the same distance from the edgeof the sail and this is accomplished very easily by means of ouradjuster by simply count ing the number of corrugations over which theknots have been slipped.

Our bridle-adjuster may be used with ad vantage on kites other thanbox-kites, as will be obvious.

Ve claim as our invention#- 1. A knockdown box-kite comprising incombination four corner-stays having sails secured thereto, and two ormore pairs of intersecting, diagonal braces each pivoted at one end onlyto one of said stays and provided at its free end with a U-shaped clipfor detaehably engaging the opposite stay, each pair of said bracesbeing pivoted together at the point of their intersection, for thepurpose set forth. 1

2. In a kite, a bridle-adjuster comprising'a wire secured to thekite-frame and provided with means for retaining the bridle atpredetermined points along its length.

3. In a kite, a bridle-adjuster'cornprising a Wire adapted to be securedat its ends to the kite-frame, and bent to form a series of corrugations, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names this 29th dayof April, A. D. 1893.

EDWARD B. MERRIMAN. FRANK W. MERRIMAN. lVitnesses:

E. D. CHADWICK, E. B. ToMLINsoN.

IOO

